About Somnus Lucis Caelum
Spoilers ahead about the Royal Edition, obviously!
So now, we know: the founder King was Somnus Lucis Caelum, Ardyn’s little brother.
Until now, the only informations we had on him was what Ardyn said about Somnus: that he was jealous and stole the throne from him. But was it really the case?
His description says that he was a fair and brave man, and when you encounter him in the Citadel nothing invalidates this, on the contrary.
After the fight when Somnus becomes himself again, he asks Noctis to bring back the Light and to «free [my brother] Ardyn from his curse».
His voice, his words, he really appears as a kind-hearted man who shows some compassion for his infortunate older brother, not really a jealous man.
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So, where does this jealous thing comes from?
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Like I said, the only things we knew about Somnus was what Ardyn said about him. And Ardyn is super subjective. From his point of view, his brother took everything away from him: his throne first, but also his life since Somnus didn’t prevent Ardyn’s imprisonment, leading him to centuries of suffering into darkness.
After years and years all alone in the dark, Ardyn can have developed unjustified hate for his brother leading him to believe he was just jealous of his status, or maybe something at the time made Ardyn think his brother betrayed him even if it was not the case.
For now, we can’t know precisely what happened between those two, but I think Somnus was not as bad as Ardyn says/believes.
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And then I remembered the cover of the Cosmogony book.
As we can guess, the crowned man receiving the Crystal is Somnus. But look at the scenery: Somnus doesn’t seem really happy. He even seems a little surprised. Look how Bahamut’s hand is holding Somnus’ one. He seems to push his hand to ‘’force’’ him to accept the Crystal. It’s as if Somnus hesitated to take it (maybe afraid after what happened to Ardyn).
So it’s possible that Ardyn was in fact supposed to be the King but was rejected by the Crystal, leading the Gods and the people to pick the second one in the line of the Lucis Caelum, Somnus, who originally asked for nothing.
It’s highly probable because if you read what happened to Queen Crepera Lucis Caelum, it’s exactly the same story: she was not supposed to rule but his father and older brother died precipitously, forcing her to ascend the throne.
So I believe Somnus Lucis Caelum was a good guy, powerless to stop what happened to his brother and obliged to ascend the throne in his place.
Futhermore, I don’t see Square Enix making Noctis’ ancestor a bad person, it would be strange ^^ (but cool in some way… but strange X3 )
